ACS needed for growing beverage industry

© nikkytok - Fotolia.com

The growing demand for beer, carbonated soft drinks and other beverages in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to expand the sub-region's beverage manufacturing sector between 2012 and 2019. In turn, the construction of production plants in Nigeria, Angola and Mozambique, and the refurbishment of existing production facilities translates to new installation orders for ACS.

In terms of product types, the programmable logic controllers (PLC) segment is expected to account for most of the region's ACS market revenues, followed by distributed control system (DCS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), human-machine interface (HMI), and manufacturing execution system (MES).

The beverage market is beset with infrastructure and energy shortages, which affect the operational expenditure of the sub-region's manufacturing sector. Due to this, production costs of beverage plants are higher than the Asian and European counterparts are.

"Beverage manufacturers are making concerted efforts to improve operational efficiency to control costs," said Frost & Sullivan consulting manager for the industrial unit, James Fungai Maposa. "ACS is a huge asset in these endeavours, as it allows manufacturers to closely monitor and control the production process."

ACS enables the optimum use of resources and cost savings though reduced operational expenses and lower labour costs. Furthermore, it aids the delivery of real-time information to key decision makers, helping them to make critical decisions in the shortest possible time concerning supply and demand.

Under threat from Asia

Despite these outstanding benefits, the region's ACS market faces a threat from lower priced Asian imports. Market participants are also grappling with a shortage of technical and engineering skills at both the end-user and supplier levels. The region has traditionally been a slow adopter of new technologies and the language barriers further restrict market growth.

"Cost-conscious participants are likely to purchase the lower priced Asian imports, which are reportedly of comparable quality to regionally supplied ACS systems. To avoid losing shares to foreign participants, regional suppliers should aim to offer ACS solutions at affordable prices."

Manufacturers can also negate the language barrier in the Portuguese speaking-African markets by establishing a team of Portuguese-speaking employees in those countries. They will benefit greatly by educating end users on the merits of installing and using ACS systems.

For more information, e-mail Samantha James at moc.tsorf@semaj.ahtnamas.